Living as an Orthodox Christian in a Non-Orthodox World, Part I

One of the teaching
challenges of those committed to the Mind of Christ and His One, Holy,
Catholic, Apostolic and Orthodox Church is the homogenization of Christianity
by those who have been ensnared by the spiritual cancer of religious relativism
that has permeated the Western world. Political, religious and social
correctness is the mantra of the 3rd Millennium. It is also the great scourge
of our modern world. It is the duty of all true and committed Christians,
especially those charged with the guiding others in Orthodoxy, to be steadfast
to the mind of Christ and His Church (Morelli, 2010). It must begin in the
little church in the home the 'domestic church,' then be connected to the local
parish and its clergy and then on to the Church universal.

An example of this
spiritual virus occurred in a recent conversation I had with an Orthodox
Christian who told me they had been told by another 'Orthodox' Christian that
one should be happy that anyone would go or pray at any 'Christian' community.
It doesn't matter that the community calling themselves 'Christian' was not one
of the Apostolic Churchesi. Unfortunately, this view overlooks the fairly
obvious fact that some of these 'Christian' fellowships teach what is
"man-made," or omit from their teaching what a man or woman wants
omitted and still call it 'Christian.'ii The dogmatic teaching of Christ and
His Church, as witnessed by the Apostolic Churches, has been relegated to the
realm of bias, discrimination and as proclaiming a radical violation of human rights.
However, consider this question: Is one Church really as good as another?

The teaching of an
Orthodox Metropolitan on the criticality of Dogma

The critical
necessity of dogma for the Orthodox commitment to Christ and His Church was
recently strongly proclaimed by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev (2002, p. xiii),
Chairman of the Department of External Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate:

In our own day there
is a widely held view that belief in religious dogma is not obligatory; even if
they still have a certain historical value, they are no longer vital for
Christians. Moral and social agendas have become the main preoccupation of many
Christian communities, while theological issues are often neglected. This
dissociation between dogma and way of life, however, contradicts the very
nature of the religious life, which presupposes that faith should always be
confirmed by deeds, and visa versa.

Underlying Processes
in Observational Learning

Why is this
important? Because our beliefs inform what we say and do, and consequently when
and where they are heard and/or seen, they thus serve as models for others to
observe, learn and perform. (Morelli, 2006a)

Modeling and Behavior

The essential role of
such modeling in influencing behavior is a well supported by behavioral
research (Bandura, 1986, Morelli, 2005a, 2005b, 2006a,b,c, 2007). In fact, it
is also known that in children's early life parents are the main models. As
individuals develop in age, the role of other adults, peers and surrounding
society become increasingly efficacious as models. (Grusec, 1992) In as much as
so many individuals in modern society are actively hostile to the Orthodox
teaching of Christ, the implications are grave. As I emphasize in a previous
article (Morelli, 2007): "If a parent capitulates to the culture, then the
culture will assume the teaching authority of the parent." In fact,
secular culture, with its undisguised enmity to Christ and His orthodox Church,
will take over the teaching authority not just of children, but of those of all
ages. The first step in attempting to tear down the authentic teaching of
Christ and His Church is the homogenization of Christianity, as witnessed by
the inference in the example stated earlier in this article that being actively
attached and committed to the Orthodox Church 'doesn't matter.'

The Forcing of
compliance to immorality by the legal system

Another egregious
attempt to attack orthodox morality is to force legalization of immoral
behavior. A recent online guest columnist described this trend by saying that
some "seek to "rehabilitate" Christians to their way of thinking
under penalty of law. ... of old [they] just threw us to the lions. I guess
that's what they mean by "progress."iii Another currently well-reported
example is the government mandating of abidance by religious institutions to
healthcare programs that are clearly not in accord with orthodox Christian
teaching.iv

The signs of Christ's
orthodox Church

"Peace be with
you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when He had said
this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If
you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any,
they are retained." (Jn 20: 21-23).

This passage is, of
course, the scriptural basis of the Holy Mystery of Confession. It has
implications, however, that can be applied to all that makes up the Church.
Christ gave Holy Spirit to His Apostles and their successors, the bishops and
priests of His Orthodox Church, to safeguard and transmit His truth from age to
age. And it is important to remember Christ's warning in St. Matthew's Gospel
(7: 15): "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of
sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." St. Paul tells us:
"For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ." (2Cor 11:13)

Continuing with the
Holy Mystery of Confession as a springboard toward understanding Christ's true
Church. Who has retained this Holy Mystery? Only the Apostolic Churches-The
Orthodox Church-the preeminent focus of this article. Who has thrown Holy Confession
and most of the other Holy Mysteries out? The non-Apostolic Christian
communities. The other Holy Mysteries of the Church are not exempt from either
elimination or fundamental re-definition. For example, to align themselves with
political correctness, some communities calling themselves Christian perform
baptism in the name of the 'Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier,' thus
countermanding Christ's explicit teaching as recorded by St. Matthew (28:
19-20): "Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days,
even to the consummation of the world."

The Holy Mystery of
the Eucharist can also be considered in this regard. The Apostolic Churches
retain Christ's very own words when He instituted the Holy Eucharist:

And whilst they were
at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples,
and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body. And taking the chalice, he gave
thanks, and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this. For this is my blood of
the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins. (Mt 26:
26-28)

Christ does not say
the bread and wine is a figure, memorial or symbol of "my body" or
"my blood", but "this is my body ...this is my blood."

Furthermore, those
infected with homogenized Christianity fail to understand the reason the
Apostolic Churches only give the Eucharist to those who are baptized and who
hold the fullness of the teaching of Christ and His Church. Others are excluded
until they have fully "put on Christ." The ancient testimony of St.
Justin Martyr (c 147-161 AD) bears this out: The Apostolic orthodox Churches of
Christ, therefore, maintain that the Holy Eucharist is the true body, blood,
soul and divinity of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ.

And this food is
called among us the Thanksgiving [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to
partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and
who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and
unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as
common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus
Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh
and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food
which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh
by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was
made flesh.

A personal example of
'church relativism'

I would like to give
a very personal example, edited, of course, for purposes of anonymity and
charity. Some years ago I was invited, as a friend of the bride's family, to
attend the wedding of a Roman Catholic male and a Protestant female at a
Catholic Church. The Protestant denomination of the bride considers itself
"a branch of the Catholic Church," but this pretentious claim is
completely unrecognized by the Eastern and Roman Catholic Churches, and the
Orthodox Churches as well. I did not know beforehand who the officiating priest
would be, so I was greatly surprised when I saw that he, a member of a Roman
Catholic religious order, was someone I knew very well. Many times he and I had
had serious discussions and diverged on the issue of 'open communion.' During
the Nuptial Mass, I was seated about six rows back , dressed in my clerical
street garb. Several pews ahead of me were several girlfriends of the bride,
well known to the other guests for their 'party' lifestyle.

At Communion time,
the officiating priest turned and invited all to receive the Eucharist. I and
others saw the girls joking among themselves, asking if they should go up to receive.
They did go and received communion in the hand, and on the way back to the pew
were flipping the host up and down, laughing joking, and finally consuming.
After the service, I told this incident to the celebrant, and this time even he
was in dismay. I said in charity: "Fr. X, this is one of the reasons that
in Orthodoxy we reserve communion only to those who are fully united to the
Church." I think he got the message.

The Christ-way Church
is not a my-way church

Elder Paisios of the
Holy Mountain [Mt. Athos] (2011, p. 37) comments: "People are in such a
state today that they do whatever comes to their mind. . . . Every so often, a
few people will get together and start a new religion."

Actually, this state
of mind goes back many years. All one has to do is review the founders of
non-Apostolic Christian communities. To name a few: Anglican-Protestant
Episcopal communities: Henry VIII; Lutheranism: Martin Luther; Presbyterian:
John Calvin; Methodist: John Wesley; Ana-Baptists: Balthasar Hubmaier, et. al. These
communities, along with too numerous to mention community congregations and
mega communities (with members numbering in thousands), thrive in the United
States and other countries. On the other hand, the Apostolic Churches are
traced back with unbroken succession to the Apostles of Our Lord God and Savior
Jesus Christ and sanctified by the descent of Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

As previously noted,
many of these groups have changed the meaning of the Holy Mysteries, completely
eliminated them or retain only Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and communion
merely as a 'memorial,' not as the true Body Blood and Divinity of Christ. Some
other worship practices and teachings are equally egregious: seducing people by
bright lights, sounds & pop music; equating holiness with feelings, instead
of as taught by Orthodoxy: having a mind and heart filled with Godliness.

Worship in the
Apostolic Church

For God's presence in
the heart is a sense of God's absence: silence (as in the desert). St. Peter of
Damaskos tells us ". . .for since God is undetermined and indeterminate
without form or color, the intellect that is with God alone should itself be
without form or color, free from all figuration and undistracted."
(Philokalia III, p. 236). St. Peter, in the 12th Century, is expanding on the
teaching of an early spiritual father of the 4th Century, St. Evagrius the
Solitary, who said "Never try to see a form or shape during prayer . . .
do not long for a sensory image." (Philokalia I, p. 68). St. John of the
Ladder (1991) goes on to explain: "silence is the mother of prayer . . .
creator of divine vision . . .the friend of silence draws us near to God and,
by secretly conversing with Him is enlightened by God." (p. 92). It should
be noted that in the public worship of the Apostolic Churches, the Divine
Liturgy, the music is reverential and meant to raise one hearts and minds to
God. That is to say, to cultivate an 'interior silence.'

Some non-Apostolic
communities have also departed far afield from Christ and His Church on
moral-social and theological issues, including espousing abortion, pre-marital
sex, same-sex marriage, and female ordination. Another comment by Elder Paisios
of the Holy Mountain is particularly apt in this regard: "they have
turned sin into a fashion."

The importance of
being in union with the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Orthodox Church

Critical to
understanding the importance of unity with the Orthodox Church of Christ are
the words of Fr. Georges Florovsky as quoted by Alfeyev:
"Personal convictions and even one's way of life do not yet make one a
Christian. Christian existence assumes inclusion and implies membership in the community" (from Florovsky, My Father's Home, 10-11) This
supports Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev's statement that: "The
Church is synonymous with Christianity: one cannot be a Christian without being
a member of the Church." In a later work (2012) he specifies exactly what
"Church" membership means: . . . the oldest and most indispensable
[ministry in the ancient Church] has turned out to be that of leadership. In
the first years of the Church's existence, the apostles began to ordain
presbyters and bishops to lead the local churches, creating an apostolic
preaching as a result. Thus was the implementation of apostolic succession in
the Church. The apostolic succession of hierarchy is a key concept of Orthodox
ecclesiology: only that Church in which an unbroken succession of the hierarchy
exists, coming from the apostles, is the true Church of Christ. If such a
succession is absent or somehow broken [as in the Reformed communions including
the Anglican and Protestant-Episcopal communities], the Church cannot be
considered true, the hierarchy cannot be considered legitimate, and the
sacraments cannot be considered efficacious.

CONVERSATION

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